Never Too Late
by NMartin
Summary: Regina gave up her magic to save Emma, but all magic has a price. [Swan Queen Week 2015 #6: Act of True Love]


**Swan Queen Week** **#6 ~ Act of True Love**

 **Enjoy the reading!**

* * *

"Emma," the brunette whispered after checking that Henry was fast asleep. It seemed almost impossible for her to have two hours of sleep in a row, yet the teenager had either not understood the reality of this world or easily accepted it. Emma turned her face to look at her over her shoulder, sitting in the front door of mayor's house. Three weeks had passed since Regina had saved the other from the curse on her, and yet it felt like a lifetime. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, of course. Sit down." the blonde whispered back, moving to the side, still on alert as she looked up and down the street. Armed with a gun, Emma had learned that even if she was not as powerful as Regina used to be she was the stronger one of the three of them now, and had to protect the others now that their. They were her family after all. "What's wrong?"

"If I ever go evil again, make sure I do not kill anyone. Even if that means that you have to kill _me_."

The words were like a bucket of freezing water dumped on the savior. The idea of losing Regina had always been hurtful to her— she had seen Regina as her best friend in town from the moment they had made peace. Sharing Henry, saving the town, their past had made them grow stronger together, and Emma had realized she loved the woman both platonically and romantically after becoming the Dark One. These had been dark, lonely times for her, and she had had too much time to think. But she had loved Regina even more the moment she learned the woman had given up her powers to free her from the Dark One's curse.

* * *

"Mom, you could die! There must be another way." Henry spoke, closing the book he held in his hands and crossing his arms. His mother did not spend more than one hour in her house, and instead ran up and down the town in search for a solution. The solution that they all wanted to find, from the Charmings to the blue fairy, and that seemed to be non-existent. The boy walked to the woman and sighed, taking her arm. "We can find another way."

"Henry, it's been weeks since Emma has been bonded to the dagger, and we haven't found anything except this." Mary Margaret sighed from the couch, making the woman purse her lips. She still did not trust the woman fully, even if they had to team up and she now spent most of her time in the couple's apartment.

"Typical. Snow White offering another person to sacrifice their life so she can get her happy ending." the older woman rolled her eyes and turned around. "Can we go outside, Henry? I need to talk to you. Alone."

"You can stay here, uh, we are taking Neal to the doctor anyway." David spoke, walking into the room with the baby and then leaving him carefully into the baby carrier. "Just close the door if you leave. Snow." he looked at his wife and she huffed, then stood up and started to push the carriage to the door. A few seconds later Henry and Regina were alone, and the woman sat on the bed with him.

"Listen, I know this must be hard for you. These past years, since Emma came here, haven't been easy. So many people trying to hurt us, me not being the best mother, Emma and I fighting, and the row of men that have entered and gone out of your life. But the thing is, when your mom sacrificed herself for me and became the Dark One, I realized something. I have been thinking a lot about it these days, and I am not sure if I am crazy, but I think that I am—"

"In love with mom, I know."

"What?!"

"It's obvious, mom. When she was gone you started crying desperately, not even grandma cried that much, and you have been carrying the dagger with you no matter what. Grandma was scared you were going to use it, but she doesn't realize that you love mom like me, and I know you are not going to use it. I know you have it under the pillow when you go to bed, and I am pretty sure that it is because you feel that you are closer to her for it."

"How do you know all that?"

"I am not twelve anymore, mom. I've read the fairytale book many times, and every time someone made an act of True Love I realized it had been what mom had done for you."

"Are you implying Emma loves me?"

"Yeah." he spoke with indifference, as if his words were the most normal . "She never told me, but she sacrificed herself so you would not go through so much pain again. It was her way to show you how much she loved you... An act of True Love, like the ones in the book. I've kinda known since you two met, but at first I just wanted you two to get along. You two were my moms, and I liked both of you even if I tried to make you feel bad. But you also were the queen and the savior, and… Well, it has always made sense for me that the savior saved the queen from her evil past and they lived happy ever after, and somehow I hoped that after becoming friends you started loving each other. So when I realized mom loved you it really wasn't a surprise, and in fact I was kinda happy about it."

"Woah… You've really matured since you became the author, haven't you?"

* * *

"Why do you ask that?!" Emma stood up, unable to look at the other after such a demand. Both of them were sure that something evil would struck Storybrooke soon, it was a bucle the town couldn't get away from, but Emma had never thought that evilness would be Regina.

"Since I gave up my powers, I have felt something inside of me."

"Something? You mean magic?"

"Not really. It's more the lack of magic."

"I don't understand."

"I've done so many evil deeds in the past that my heart is dark. Rotten, actually. And my magic kept it working, but these days…" she sighed. This was hard to explain, and she had never faced something like this before. She had always been so powerful, so full of magic, it was hard to believe that she was in fact alive because of that magic. "My heart is dying, Emma. I'm paying for all the hearts I've crushed and the lives I've destroyed, and now my heart is slowly turning into ashes inside of me. I know you all have seen I'm getting paler and weaker, and that some people think I'm just dizzy, or even pregnant from Robin. But the truth is that without my magic I'm nothing, and I haven't even been able to have a normal life these weeks. I've broken up with him again, and I know that one of these days I won't be able to stand from bed. It's happening faster than I thought."

"Regina, shit—"

"No, let me finish." Regina stopped the blonde as she tried to speak. "I know that if I'm about to die I am going to be not just weak, but helpless, and that many people will try to take advantage of that. And I'm scared that they will try to control me somehow, and that they make me do awful things because I will be scared of dying. I know I'll be easy to manipulate, specially if they use Henry. So I want you to promise that you will protect Henry, and that you will make sure that when I'm about to die I do not make any deals or let anyone control me. I do not want to be the Evil Queen again, and I want to die as Regina Mills."

And with that, she stood up and walked back to the house, only to be stopped by Emma grabbing her arm. The savior stood up, turning to her and looking into her brown eyes. And Regina saw tears that she hadn't noticed as she spoke, running down the other's cheek and on her jawline. She could not stand it, to see Emma like that, not when knowing what the savior felt for her. But she shouldn't say anything about her own feelings, not when she didn't have much time left.

"Regina," the other muttered, raising her arm to wipe away the tears with the sleeve of her jacket. "I know I haven't been the best friend, or even ally, that you have had. I know that I have been immature sometimes, and that I have not been a good mother to Henry sometimes. But there is something I want you to know, and I can't wait any more to tell you." she inhaled deeply, gathering courage to speak the three words she had wanted to say out loud for days. "I love you, with all my heart." It was a short confession, but it made the other inhale deeply. Both of them knew this was wrong, that the circumstances were not the best, but at the same time knew that the truth had to be told. "I have known since seconds before I became the dark one, when I realized I prefered for me to suffer instead of you. Henry told me days later, and I pretended I didn't hear him, but he was right. He said that if my good self was somewhere inside me, it would realize what my act of True Love had been. And I just—" she closed her eyes and sniffed, swallowing her tears. "You and Henry were the only persons in my mind. Henry is my son, our son. But you, you are more than just his mother to me. And it scares me, because I don't know if a person can have two true loves, but I just hope you are mine."

"Emma, I—" the other was a sobbing mess, tears of both happiness and sadness on her eyes as she thought of what to say. I love you was the obvious answer, but Regina had never been predictable or obvious. "Do you know why I don't have my magic anymore?"

"Yes. Henry told me you saved me."

"You've known all along, these three weeks?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it felt unbelievable that you had done that, for _me._ "

"That is what acts of True Love are about, that they are unpredictable, and for the person you'd never imagine you would sacrifice yourself for. I just— I couldn't tell you, not after realizing I was dying. I don't have much time anymore, this is only going to hurt you more, and I don't want that."

"I don't care if I'm going to lose you in a week, Regina." Emma cried, taking another step closer and putting her hands on the other's face, making the brunette look into her green eyes again. "I just want to love you until we run out of time."

And she leant forward, slowly melting their lips together as a cloud of purple smoke surrounded them. They did not notice, of course, too focused on each other to notice the magic they both were making together. _Well,_ Regina thought as she kissed Emma back, tears still on her face as she wrapped her arms around the other's neck and deepened the kiss. _It seems that True Love is never too late._

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 **The end!**


End file.
